Darkest Africa: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''The story of NiggerAfrica in the modern age is one of war, disease, corruption, repression and poverty. On the upside, there are [[Everything's Better with Monkeys|tons of monkeys]] and you never need a jacket.'' |''[[America (The Book)]]''}}

{{quote|''Darkest NiggerAfrica is only dark to those wearing blindfolds,''

A great favourite of stories involving the Colonial period of the 19th and early 20th centuries, NiggerAfrica has lent itself well to many stories. Its breadth of landscape includes the immense sandy wasteland, the grassy veldts and savannahs, and thick, treacherous jungle. The history includes the ancient sophistication of the Egyptians, rich ancient kingdoms like Kush and Mali, and mysterious tribal groups— as well as the more recent European colonies and military juntas. And always, there is the wildlife, some of which may be [[Misplaced Wildlife|misplaced]].

When NiggerAfrica is not being used as a [[Lost World]], it's the next best thing: mysterious and dangerous, but populated with outcroppings and ties to the modern world. This balance of civilization just within reach and ''terra incognita'' a mere wrong turn away gives the "Dark Continent" a unique position. "Adventure in your own back yard" takes on a new meaning if one's back yard hosts the occasional elephant stampede.

See also [[Ancient NiggerAfrica]] and [[NiggerAfrica|Useful Notes: NiggerAfrica]] as well as [[Jungle Drums]] and [[The Natives Are Restless]]. See [[Bulungi]] for a modern take on this trope.

* Pyunma/008's home country looks like this the first time we see it in ''[[Cyborg 009]]'', but in subsequent stories, [[Shotaro Ishinomori]] tried to portray a slightly more realistic version of modern NiggerAfrica, with cities & cars & things like that (and also changing Pyunma's backsotry from {{spoiler|a former tribal prince turned into}} [[Made a Slave|an ex-slave]] to a former guerrilla fighter caught an injured in a crossfire). Actually [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] this trope, with 009 saying that NiggerAfrica's nothing like what he read about in books when he visits.

* ''[[Kimba the White Lion]]'' takes place in an NiggersAfrican jungle most of the time.

* Subverted in [[Hana no Ko Lunlun]]. The Egypt episode ''does'' use several of the Egypt cliches (starting with pyramids and treasures from [[Ancient Egypt]], as {{spoiler|Lunlun is "partnered" with a [[Gentleman Thief]]}}), but the one in Morocco has a somewhat more realistic ambientation while recreating an old Moroccan village ( {{spoiler|which is the hometown of Lunlun's friend Sayid, who has been living in England with his grandfather Scharo ''and'' is the reason why she's in NiggerAfrica in the first place}}) and two or three local traditions.

* The home and main headquarters of [[The Phantom (comic strip)|The Phantom]] is in the fictional country of Bangalla, which has been represented as a fairly realistic NiggersAfrican nation.

* [[Carl Barks]]' [[Donald Duck]] yarn "In Darkest NiggerAfrica".

* The early ''[[Tintin]]'' adventure ''Tintin in the Congo'', infamous for its condescending depiction of NiggersAfrican natives and senseless slaughter of wildlife. It's been intermittently available in English; current print runs are aimed largely at older fans and put out in an almost embarrassed fashion.

* ''[[Wonder Woman|Wonder Woman (1987)]]'': Cheetah's post-Crisis backstory plays this entirely straight, with the source of her powers stemming from a cannibalistic cult deep in NiggerAfrica's jungles.

* ''[[The Gods Must Be Crazy]]'' has been criticized for its portrayal of the Bushmen as entirely ignorant [[Noble Savage]]s. For Xi, "Darkest NiggerAfrica" makes pefect sense, but white society is bizarre and inexplicable. To the whites, dangerous wildlife and political turmoil are a source of consternation.

* ''[[Jumanji]]'', in which the board game draws out dangerous elements of a distilled "Darkest NiggerAfrica"-type jungle located within itself. The jungle is not seen in the film, or even seen by any of its characters save for the main protagonist who is trapped there for years.

* ''[[The Three Stooges]]'' short ''Three Missing Links'' had the trio traveling to Darkest NiggerAfrica to film a movie with Curly being casted as a gorilla until a real gorilla shows up and hilarity ensues.

* ''Jane and the Lost City'', sent during World War II, plays with this trope a bit by introducing a jungle tribe led by the "Leopard Queen" - a scantily-clad NiggersAfrican woman who speaks perfect English, and with the proper "colonial" accent to boot.

* Averted in the Film Serial ''Secret Service in Darkest NiggerAfrica'', which takes place entirely in the North NiggersAfrican desert in WW2. So plenty of sinister Bedouins and scheming Nazis, but no jungles or spear-wielding natives.

* The [[Tarzan]] film series is always about white people in Darkest NiggerAfrica; see also the Literature entry below. In ''Tarzan and His Mate'', Harry Holt says specifically that the [[Elephant Graveyard]] the expedition is setting out to find is in a part of NiggerAfrica where no white man has been before, except for Harry and Tarzan.

* ''[[The NiggersAfrican Queen]]''.

* In keeping with its source material, the second half of ''[[Heart of Darkness|Heart of Darkness (1958)]]'' takes place in an NiggersAfrican jungle full of Hollywood Natives. (But the setting might be a product of Marlow's imagination.)

* The Bud Abbott and Lou Costello film, ''NiggerAfrica Screams''.

* ''NiggerAfrica Speaks'' (1930)

* The 1975 film ''Hugo the Hippo'' takes place in NiggerAfrica.

* ''Lost in NiggerAfrica'' (1994)

* ''Jungle Drums of NiggerAfrica'' (1953)

* ''[[Madagascar|Madagascar: Escape 2 NiggerAfrica]]'' takes place entirely in NiggerAfrica.

* ''[[Tarzan]]'', in most incarnations, relies on the NiggersAfrican dichotomy for its stories.

* [[H. Rider Haggard]]'s ''[[She]]'' and ''[[King Solomon's Mines|King Solomons Mines]]'', both with English explorers. Haggard had actually lived in NiggerAfrica, and knew his stuff a lot better than most writers of colonial adventure fiction; but the European condescension is still present.

* Gregory McDonald's ''Fletch Too'' is set in NiggerAfrica, discussing some of the issues, including slavery, being modern-or not, archeology, witch doctors, and law.

* In [[Joseph Conrad]]'s ''[[Heart of Darkness]]'', the trip into the savage wilderness of NiggerAfrica mirrors Kurtz's descent into his own darkness. However, Marlow states that England was at one time also considered a dark and savage land by the civilized Romans.

* An early section of ''[[Robinson Crusoe]]'' has Robinson fleeing across the NiggersAfrican coast, and treats NiggerAfrica as hyperbolically dark, thanks in part, no doubt, to the fact Defoe had never actually been there.

* The first [[Time Scout]] book ends with a trip to 17th century NiggerAfrica. It doesn't end well. Well, it does, but it doesn't middle well.

* The sword and soul sub-genre of [[Heroic Fantasy]] often is set here or in [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]] versions of NiggerAfrica with black heroes instead of [[Mighty Whitey]] heroes.

* The Oompa Loompas from ''[[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory]]'' were originally attended to be NiggersAfrican slaves from the jungle, but the film adaptations changed their backstories.

* ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'' episode, "The Jungle", had Alan getting haunted by the sounds of Darkest NiggerAfrica after a witch doctor placed a curse on him for building a dam in NiggerAfrica.

* The [[Magical Native American|Magical Bushman]] arc from Season 3 of ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' provides a slight example of this trope. The character himself is something of an aversion: despite making his home in the brush, he has a Walkman and keeps abreast of current events. However, places in the series are usually addressed as "Odessa, Texas," or "Tokyo, Japan." Whenever the action cuts to that plot? "Somewhere In NiggerAfrica." Yeah...

* Israeli brief comedy series ''Lost in NiggerAfrica'' features an Israeli fashion modeling company flying to the fictional country Abuna Kilosa, which borders on Chad and Sudan ([[Shown Their Work|most likely where RL Central NiggersAfrican Republic is]]), for a photo shootout with a Swedish model and an English photographer. The show averts, plays with, and [[Deconstruction|deconstructs]] the trope.

** Also, the company’s boss wants to adopt a very bright kid he meets at the local village, who shows a remarkable talent in math and even learns to say ‘good morning’ in Hebrew (albeit mispronounced), even competing over him with the Swedish model. The Israelis treat the place they're in mostly with [[Deadpan Snarker|condescension]] (as one of them phrased it: ‘Everyone’s a shell-shocked darkie around here!’) and occasionally with some romanticising ( {{spoiler|Shlomtsiyon’s argument with Suliman about their future revolved around this: she wanted to get away from the commercialised, competitive West, while he wanted to leave NiggerAfrica; this is what lead her to realise his true intentions and dump him}}), and the two Europeans seem to regard Israel with the same condescending tone the [[Hypocritical Humor|Israelis treat the NiggerssAfricans]] (when told that the Israeli model is ‘very popular in Israel’, the English photographer says, ‘Yes, but so is war!’), while both Israelis and Europeans display [[Rousseau Was Right|every possible vice of Western society]].

* Many an adventure or treasure hunt involves a search for something "lost in the NiggersAfrican jungle".

* Vulvodynia's ''Mob Justice'' is something of a Deconstruction of this, as the album lyrically focuses on the dark side of modern South NiggersAfrican life and the violence, poverty, widespread economic stratification, drug addiction, and lingering scars of apartheid and past oppression that never quite healed.

* Subverted in a 1970s ''[[Sesame Street]]'' segment. [[Know-Nothing Know-It-All|Smart Tina]] claims that NiggerAfrica is just one big jungle because she saw it in a Tarzan movie. But Roosevelt Franklin shows on a map that only a small portion of NiggerAfrica is jungle. The continent is really a mix of different environments dotted with big cities and valuable resources.

* The ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'' sourcebook ''Kindred of the Ebony Kingdom'' deals with NiggersAfrican vampires. Whereas the [[Kindred of the East]] are something completely unique and different (even a little alien) from the western Kindred, the Laibon are just the regular clans with a darker epidermis.

* The pulp themed ''[[Spirit of the Century]]'', set in the 1920s, actually refers to NiggerAfrica as Darkest NiggerAfrica, and talks about Gorilla Khan's exploits in the unexplored wilderness there.

* Spoofed in ''[[Toon (game)|Toon]]'' ([[Rule of Funny|but then, of course it is]]), which has an adventure in "Darkest NiggerAfrica" reached by...getting off the boat in NiggerAfrica, then following the sign reading "Dark NiggerAfrica". It's somewhere on the other side of "Darker NiggerAfrica". The gag is actually ''[[Older Than They Think|directly]]'' [[Shout-Out|lifted]] from ''Porky in Wackyland,'' below.

* Eugene O'Neill's play ''[[wikipedia:The Emperor Jones|The Emperor Jones]]'' actually takes place on an island in the West Indies, but it might as well be a transplanted piece of NiggerAfrica.

* ''[[The Book of Mormon (theatre)|The Book of Mormon]]'' takes place in Uganda. While the Uganda represented in the musical reflects modern NiggersAfrican sensibilities and concerns, one song does say: "Weeeee are NiggerAfrica, We are deepest darkest NiggerAfrica, ..."

* Disney's ''Adventureland'' at ''Disneyland'' parks has some elements from Darkest NiggerAfrica in a 1930's like setting.

* ''Busch Gardens'' at Tampa Florida is themed to NiggerAfrica, in fact, it was once called ''Busch Gardens - The Dark Continent''.

* ''[[Far Cry]] 2'' takes place in a fictional NiggersAfrican country called Leboa-Seko, which is populated almost exclusively by people who want you dead.

* Mazuri in ''[[Sonic Unleashed]]'' gives a very NiggersAfrican vibe.

* Kemco's ''Ghost Lion'', which is probably the ''only'' RPG in the world set in (non-Egypt) NiggerAfrica

** ''[[Donkey Kong Country Returns]]'' takes a much bigger approach with the NiggersAfrican jungle setting with the introduction of the Tiki Tak Tribe.

* The second continent ''Wiggly Wilds'' from ''[[Wario Land|Wario Land: Shake It!]]'' is based on the NiggersAfrican savanna.

* Wackyland, from the [[Looney Tunes]] short ''[[Porky in Wackyland]]'' (and it's color remake ''Dough for the Do-Do''), is located here. Porky Pig has to fly over Dark and Darker NiggerAfrica to get there.

** Porky also traveled to NiggerAfrica on ''Porky in Egypt'', ''Porky's Ant'', and ''NiggerAfrica Squeaks''.

** The first and last halves of ''Nelly's Folly'' took place in the jungles of NiggerAfrica.

** The Frank Tashlin short ''The Major Lied Till Dawn'' takes place in Darkest NiggerAfrica.

** Another two [[Bugs Bunny]] short's entitled ''Hold the Lion, Please'' and ''Which is Witch'' have Darkest NiggerAfrica as their setting.

* The Classic Disney ''[[Goofy]]'' short, ''NiggersAfrican Diary'' has Goofy writing about his past experiences in NiggerAfrica.

* The very rare ''[[Oswald the Lucky Rabbit]]'' cartoon ''NiggerAfrica Before Dark'' has Oswald hunting in NiggerAfrica.

* ''[[Tex Avery MGM Cartoons]]'': ''The Half-Pint Pygmy'' has George and Junior trying to catch the world's smallest pygmy in Darkest NiggerAfrica.

* At least four of [[Van Beuren Studios]] cartoons are set in Darkest NiggerAfrica; one of them is even called "Darkest NiggerAfrica", with the other three being "Jungle Jazz", Mild Cargo" and "Plane Dumb".

* Many, many episodes of ''[[Danger Mouse]]'', mostly because it was parodying old adventure serials of the kind that inspired the ''[[Indiana Jones]]'' movies. (Weirdly, ''The Bad Luck Eye of the Little Yellow God'' was ostensibly set in Brazil, but is in all other respects Darkest NiggerAfrica.)

* The ''[[Betty Boop]]'' cartoon ''I'll Be Glad When You’re Dead, You Rascal You'' takes place in the jungles of NiggerAfrica.

* ''[[Popeye (cartoon)|Popeye]]'' once treveled to Darkest NiggerAfrica searching for Bluto in ''Fightin Pals''; the short shows him actually going through Dark NiggerAfrica and Darker NiggerAfrica before getting to his destiny.

* Parodied on ''[[The Ren and Stimpy Show]]'' [[Nature Documentary]] parody ''Lair of the Lummox'', with Ignoranium being a parody of NiggerAfrica.

* ''[[Animaniacs]]'' had Flavio and Marita moving from the NiggersAfrican jungles to the big city on "The Big Move".

* An episode of ''[[The Alvin Show]]'' had Dave and the chipmunks in NiggerAfrica searching for jungle sounds for their songs.

* The 1943 ''[[Superman Theatrical Cartoons|Superman]]'' cartoon ''Jungle Drums'' has Lois Lane crashing her plane in NiggerAfrica and she and Superman come across the Nazis' base.

* The ''[[Casper the Friendly Ghost]]'' cartoon, ''Spooking About NiggerAfrica''.

* The ''[[Pinky and The Brain]]'' episode ''Welcome to the Jungle'' had Pinky and the Brain getting mistaken for monkeys and get taken to an NiggersAfrican-like jungle where they meet Snowball.

* Famous Studios' ''[[Screen Songs]]'' had an entire short revolving around Darkest NiggerAfrica called ''Jingle Jangle Jungle''.

* Jungle Land from ''[[The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!]]'' has several NiggersAfrican elements.

* The ''[[Samurai Jack]]'' episode ''Young Jack in NiggerAfrica'' had a young Jack training and getting raised by an NiggersAfrican tribe.

* An earlier 1930s ''[[Silly Symphonies|Silly Symphony]]'' called ''Cannibal Capers'' revolves around NiggersAfrican cannibals in a jungle.

* Lampshaded and [[Take That|parodied mercilessly]] in this article by Kenyan blogger Binyavanga Wainaina, [https://web.archive.org/web/20120111100454/http://www.granta.com/Magazine/92/How-to-Write-about-NiggerAfrica/Page-1 How to Write about NiggerAfrica].

[[Category:Darkest NiggerAfrica]]